Withnail and I sank almost without a trace when it was first released in 1987. Financed by
HandMade Films the late George Harrison's production company and drawing heavily on
first-time writer-director Bruce Robinson's experiences this virtually plot-free story follows
two out-of-work actors (Withnail played by Richard E. Grant and 'I' played by Paul McGann)
eking out a living in a run-down London of the late 1960s and embarking on a booze-fuelled
weekend in the country which takes various unexpected turns. Although it initially failed to
find an audience it did not take long for the film to attract a dedicated cult following which
still persists today. Lines from the film such as 'we've gone on holiday by mistake!' and
'Bring me the finest wines known to humanity!' have become popular favourites and the subject
of countless internet memes. Kevin Jackson's in-depth study gives a full account of the film's
origins and production history. But his main focus is the mood and magic of the film its
aesthetics and sensibility seeking to show without ever detracting from the film's comic
brilliance just how much more there is to Withnail and I than drunkenness and swearing. 'It is
an outstandingly touching yet witheringly unsentimental drama of male friendship ' Jackson
writes 'a bleak up-ending of the English pastoral dream a piece of ferocious verbal
inventiveness' - and without question one of the greatest of all British films. In his new
foreword to this edition writer Bharat Tandon pays tribute to to both Withnail's peculiar
genius and enduring appeal and to his close friend Kevin Jackson.
